Misperceptions

 

October 28, 2004

Hank Stone

hstone@rochester.rr.com

 


A study based on polls taken from January through September this year show that a majority of Americans have significant misperceptions about the Iraq war, and these misperceptions may explain support for president Bush.

 

The study comes from the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland (www.PIPA.org).

 

“A substantial majority of Bush supporters assume that most experts believe Iraq had WMD…  A Large majority of Bush supporters believes that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda and that clear evidence of this support has been found.  A large majority believes that most experts also have this view, and a substantial majority believe that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.  Large majorities of Kerry supporters believe the opposite on all these points.”

 

“Majorities of Bush supporters misperceive his positions on a range of foreign policy issues.  In particular they assume he supports multilateral approaches and addressing global warming when he has taken strong contrary positions on issues such as the International criminal Court and the Kyoto Agreement.  A majority of Kerry supporters have accurate perceptions of Kerry positions in the same issues.”

 

www.truthout.org: “…48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found, 22% that WMD have been found in Iraq, and 25% that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq.  Overall, 60% had at least one of these three misperceptions.”

 

“The frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly depending on their source of news.  The percentage of respondents who had at least one…of the three misperceptions listed above:

 

80% of FOX viewers had at least one of these misperceptions,

71% of CBS viewers,

61% of ABC viewers,

…down to…

23% of PBS viewers /NPR listeners”

 

So we have strong evidence that Americans are ignorant of basic facts about the war, and about recent American foreign policy.  We have a connection between this ignorance, and people’s primary sources of news.  And we have a big divide separating Bush and Kerry supporters.  Kerry supporters have fewer misperceptions, which may have to do with their sources of news.

 

Why should Bush supporters be different?  Why should Bush supporters choose sources of news and opinion that insulate them from accurate information?

 

Many Bush supporters are people of faith, and especially fundamentalist Christian faith.  In its purest form, this faith makes a complete, seamless, satisfying and generally functional worldview.  The world was made by God, and populated with plants and animals and humans, as it says in the Bible.  The Jews, God’s chosen people, lived by the Law.  Jesus came and brought a new teaching, and his followers settled the New World, and God blessed America with freedom and prosperity.

 

But the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers didn’t fit this story.  Everyone was shaken up, around the world.  But the “God Bless America” understanding was severely damaged.  People of faith struggled to make sense of it.  And President Bush offered a way forward, calling for a crusade against evildoers—that is—a global war on terrorism.

 

For many, this interpretation gave direction.  It stimulated fear and hatred of the other, then channeled it into patriotism and the protection of our country, and our families, and our way of life.  This interpretation did not require facts.  But neither did this war pay a "decent respect to the opinions of mankind,” (as did the U.S. Declaration of Independence).

 

By having war, it was possible to ignore troublesome facts, such as what actually happened on 9/11 and why.  War allowed questioning to be called dissent, and dissent to be called “giving aid and comfort to the terrorists.”

 

So we arrive at the presidential election with a great national debate on what sort of country we want for the 21st Century--delayed indefinitely.  Bush has answered the question for himself and for his supporters:  preserve the status quo by resolutely attacking the evildoers.

 

Kerry’s message is simply that he would help the U.S. rejoin the community of nations, and stop the country from making more enemies in the world.

 

Whoever wins the election; the American public is profoundly divided, not united.  We will eventually have to deal with reining in the power of corporations over our government; protecting humankind from nuclear weapons worldwide; and planning for a sustainable future, including reducing the world population to avoid food shortages as we pass peak oil, and addressing global climate change. 

 

These are big questions, and to address them we will have to be prepared for serious discussions as a country.  To discuss these questions seriously, we will have to supply our citizens with the objective facts.  And to get to objective facts, we may have to examine our religious beliefs with new candor and new courage.

 

------------